The present invention concerns a sport boot, particularly intended for gliding boards such as skis, snowboards, or ice-skates. On the one hand, it shows a rigid core consisting, in some areas, of the inside of the boot that receives a liner. On the other hand, it shows an envelope of supple material covering the rigid core, and making up the inside of the boot in the areas where the rigid core is absent.
Such sport boots are known in prior art, for example, in the patents FR 2.119.653 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,228.
The patent FR 2.119.653 describes a ski boot consisting of a rigid interior part and a supple exterior part. The rigid interior part of this boot has the form of a continuous shell intended to entirely surround the skier""s foot, and the wear- and abrasion-resistant exterior part is meant to protect the interior part of the boot.
The patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,228 describes a ski boot consisting of a rigid core cut in such a way as to form a rigid triangulated structure in two parts; one part making the shell of the boot, and the other part the cuff of the boot. This rigid core of the boot is covered by a supple envelope; the attachment between the core and the supple envelope being made during injection or by mechanical means. The rigid frame of the boot consists of a rigid triangulated structure whose role is an optimal transmission of the efforts between the leg and the binding. The rigid triangulated core of the shell has the general shape of an upside-down  less than  less than Y greater than  greater than , one of whose branch is oriented toward the front of the boot, the other branch is directed toward the heel of the boot, and the foot of the  less than  less than Y greater than  greater than  is connected with the boot""s cuff. Thus, the efforts are distributed over the boot""s front and heel, which are also the places where the boot is attached to the skis in case of a ski boot.
The purpose of the present invention is to improve sport boots presently known as state of the art.
The present invention more particularly consists in improving a boot whose rigid core is directly in contact with the liner by increasing the transmitted efforts, and bettering the guiding precision.
According to the invention, the boot is a high rigidity boot, of competition type, whose rigid core is in direct contact with the liner surrounding the user""s foot. It is characterized in such a way that the rigid core consists of means of reinforcement, which is not covered by the envelope of supple material.
According to the invention, the boot distinguishes itself from boots of prior art in that it comprises three different areas: one supple zone, one rigid zone, and one rigid and reinforced zone.
Furthermore, it offers the advantage of creating a direct contact between the rigid core and the liner, which increases the guiding precision.
The means of reinforcement are placed in areas of the boot where important efforts are transmitted, and they form a general guy structure improving the back support and the transmission of the lateral efforts. Depending on their location on the boot, the means of reinforcement can also have a protective effect on the boot.
According to a first embodiment, the means of reinforcement consists in reinforcing the cuff""s back and shell""s back of the boot.
According to a second embodiment, the means of reinforcement also comprises a diagonal reinforcement strip on at least one side of the boot. The reinforcement strip is composed of two parts: one being located on the shell, and the other, on the cuff of the boot.
According to a variant of the second embodiment, the means of reinforcement comprises a diagonal reinforcement strip on each side of the boot.
According to a third embodiment, the boot consists of one support on at least one of the front sides of the boot""s shell forming a pole deflector.
According to a fourth embodiment, the means of reinforcement also consists of a vibration-damping element.
According to another variant, the boot is a one-piece type. In this variant, the envelope of supple material enables the creation of articulation zones on the boot.
The invention also concerns the manufacturing process of a boot. According to a first manufacturing process, the rigid core and the envelope of supple material are produced separately and assembled by fitting the two parts together.
According to a second manufacturing process, the rigid core and the envelope of supple material are molded together.
The fact that the means of reinforcement is not covered by the envelope of supple material, first, offers the advantage of not creating a material allowance on the boot in the areas where they are located, and second, of playing the role of protection in downhill racing.
Such allowances can indeed bother the user by repeated friction of these means against each other, particularly in the case of diagonal reinforcement strips on the inside of the boot. Moreover, the supple part can be damaged if it covers the support of the boot""s front used as a pole deflector.